Berlusconi's Defense

Updated Sept. 28, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

In the wake of the attacks on the U.S., Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has ventured an opinion that Western civilization is "superior" to Islamic culture. His remarks have raised quite a stir.

A New York Times report called them "unconventional for politicians," the implication being that casting aspersions on another set of beliefs and boasting of the superiority of one's own is gauche and politically incorrect. The Times will suffer no punishment for making such a suggestion. Criticism of a...